Plus: why empty storefronts are the new ballroom and five proactive moves to make with your meeting.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

October 29, 2026   |   Read online The Contract Clause Planners Forget Until a Hotel Closes Plus: why empty storefronts are the new ballroom and five proactive moves to make with your meeting.   David McMillin, Skift Meetings Head of Content October 29th, 2026 Meeting planners have a number of items on their priority lists as an event date approaches, but most aren’t spending much time fretting about whether the venue will actually be open. The January closure of The Plaza Hotel in New York, however, is a reminder of the need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario of a shuttered venue. Andrea Doyle digs into the implications of the closure for the bigger picture and spells out what every planner should be inserting in their contract language to protect themselves, including a look at the need for timely disclosures of planned renovations. Head below for the full story, along with a venue that’s already closed — and that’s the appeal: empty storefronts can be far hipper than hotel ballrooms. Plus, we have five proactive moves to make for your meetings in 2027 and the news of the Naboo-Proven acquisition. — David McMillin       NEW REPORT ON THE GLOBAL MEETING LANDSCAPE How are your peers thinking about risk in the destination selection process? What’s next for entry policies and fees? Which regions are making the biggest infrastructure bets for the future? Find out in a new report from Skift Meetings designed to help you get a sense of the future of the global meetings landscape. This report was sponsored by Destination Toronto and Ottawa Tourism. GET THE REPORT             FEATURED STORIES Naboo Buys UK’s Pro-ven, Betting AI Can Make Small Meetings Profitable By Andrea Doyle Naboo believes that small meetings will become worth centralizing once AI handles the admin. If that holds, procurement will gain control over a category planners and local agencies have traditionally owned. GET THE STORY 5 Proactive Moves Meeting Planners Should Make Now By Barbara Scofidio BCD M&E’s latest trends report argues that 2027 events will be won or lost in the planning phase. Measurement, risk, and sustainability are all moving to the front of the process. GET THE STORY Is an Empty Storefront the New Ballroom? By Andrea Doyle Vacant storefronts may seem like eyesores, but they can represent a real opportunity for planners who want blank walls and a contemporary sense of cool. The downside: They lack the built-in convenience of a traditional event environment. GET THE STORY The Plaza Hotel Is Closing for Four Years. Who Pays When Events Get Canceled? By Andrea Doyle The Plaza won’t be the last hotel to close with events on the books. For planners booking years in advance, the closure is a reminder to review what their contracts say happens next. GET THE STORY             Staffing Shortage: Is It a Talent Gap or a Retention Problem? Hyatt + Skift Meetings How will the industry manage to attract and keep the best employees with low starting pay, long hours and demanding clients? Some organizations are embracing four-day work weeks and sabbaticals, while others are opting for contractors and freelancers. LEARN MORE             Everyone wants a hosted buyer program. Few know how to run one successfully. Learn how with For Real Events, the team behind Shoptalk’s hosted buyer programs, and Brella, the platform behind more than 3.6 million meetings. The free on-demand webinar includes a Managed Meetings demo. WATCH THE FREE WEBINAR             SKIFT PICK: TRANSLATING TRAVEL TRENDS FOR MEETINGS Your Registration Site Runs on Code You’ve Never Thought About You probably don’t know much about PHP. I had never heard of the acronym until last week. It turns out those three letters are pretty important: PHP is the programming language that powers an estimated 70% of the world’s websites. The developers behind it warned of critical vulnerabilities that could let an attacker take over a web server without a password. If your DMO partners were slow getting back to you with a response for your RFP, this might be why. Granicus Destinations, which runs software for more than 500 North American DMOs, pulled two PHP-based add-ons offline as a precaution, including a tool that lets visitors book hotels directly from a DMO’s website. Meanwhile, Destinations International’s VP of IT said he spent an afternoon emailing vendors to make sure they were patching, and he suggested other DMOs do the same. Now think about your own tech stack. You didn’t build your registration platform or your housing portal, and you probably have no idea what they run on. That’s normal. Most hotels and DMOs don’t know either, which is why the advice they got was simple: call your vendors. You should, too. Ask what each platform is built on, whether it was exposed, and how fast they patch when something like this hits. Then plan for the bad day. If registration goes dark the week of your early-bird deadline, do you have a backup form? An email to attendees ready to go? A deadline extension already approved? Downtime is the obvious risk, but it isn’t the only one. Granicus GM Adam Boscoe warned that a compromised site can be used to reach the people who trust it. For you, those people are your attendees, and they’re used to clicking whatever your event sends them.             Plan Ahead: The 2027 Meetings Industry Calendar A rundown of when the most important programs are happening around the world next year. LEARN MORE             Thanks for being a regular reader. We are switching to a new email platform. Why? This change will allow for better delivery, and more engaging newsletters. Please take a moment to add this new email address to your contacts to ensure you continue receiving your newsletters without interruption. During this transition, these emails might land in your promotions or spam folder. To ensure you don’t miss out, please move this newsletter to your primary inbox.         DEFINING THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL. Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 Skift 35 W 31st St. New York, New York 10001, United States

Don’t miss out – a new report on the shifting global meetings landscape

A look at how planners are recalculating risk and reevaluating where to go next ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­  

In case it got buried in your inbox: Our new report, The Reshuffling of the Consideration Set, is live, and it can help you get a better sense of where to welcome your attendees next.   The report looks at how your peers are thinking about risk in the destination selection process, how entry policies and fees are evolving and which regions are making the biggest infrastructure investments. DOWNLOAD THE REPORT This report is in sponsored by Destination Toronto and Ottawa Tourism. Skift, 35 W 31st St., Frnt 1, New York, NY 10001, USA Manage preferences